France, Germany, Britain to press Russia on opening MH17 crash site

Armed pro-Russian separatists stand at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region.

France, Germany and Britain will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure that separatists in Ukraine allow investigators free access to the site of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash, the French president's office said.

"The president ... spoke this morning with Mrs Angela Merkel and Mr. David Cameron," President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement. "They agreed to demand from Mr. Putin today that he ensure that Ukrainian separatists allow emergency workers and investigators free and complete access at last to the site of the MH17 disaster to accomplish their mission."

"If Russia does not immediately take the necessary measures, the European Union will act in consequence at the Council of Foreign Affairs taking place on Tuesday."

BLACK BOXES

Meanwhile, a separatist leader said items, "presumably" the black boxes from the downed Malaysian airliner, had been found and brought to the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where they were under "our control".

"Some items, presumably the black boxes, were found, and they have been delivered to Donetsk and they are under our control," Aleksander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, told a news conference.